http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,283-2113816,00.html CHELSEA are preparing an audacious bid for Ashley Cole after learning that the England defender has an agreement that will allow him to leave Arsenal for a fee of £16 million. comments?
I'm a big fan of Ashley Cole, but if we can get 16 million for him we have to do it. We've proven we can win without him.
how's that radiohead song go again? take the money and run, take the money and run, take the money... Actually, I'm none too sure how this would affect team morale. Also, When Cole is healthy again is he taking his place? Is Flamini the #2, Clichy? What's the heirachy now that we all(I assume?) trust Flamini as a left-back and everything is settled in the back four? What about Cole's intricate understanding of the team's play? But for 16 million POUNDS?.... sounds nice to get for a left-back.
Say we do seel Cole and get the 16 million... Wouldn't you have to think that if AW gets, just say 4 million of it to spend, wouldn't you have to trust him to replace Cole? I mean, what did Eboue cost?
Cole's an integral part of the team and should never be sold. We can get an adequate replacement, but Cole is the best in the business; it would be like taking a fee for Henry. It's not the way we should be going if we have real aspirations to be the top team in the world.
no, i agree with the last comment. if its at all possible to keep cole, we should. he is an arsenal man at heart, hes a brit, he knows the style of play inside out and we need our most experienced players at this point in our history. if he insists on leaving, then yes, take the money but i would love to see him stay. we will not have a better left back at arsenal for next season if we sell him. he is, as clockend said, the best in the business, i dearly hope we can keep him
the bit that sucks about selling cole to chelsea, is making them better. now if a spanish or italian team came w/ the same claim, i'd do it.
Do not compare selling Cole to selling Henry. Henry is much much much much much much more important to the squad than Cole. Just look at what Arsenal have done in the Champions League with no Cole and Flamini at left back. A player who never played the position before. 16 million for Cole is well worth it. No LB is worth 16 million. If the Russian Mob wants to pay that for a LB then I say take the money and go buy Diarra from Lyon.
I think Ashley Cole is important to our team. If at all possible, you keep your STAR players, and AC is a star. He is one of the best in the world when healthy. Now... IF... If he wants to go, you NEVER sell him to Chelsea or United or Liverpool. NEVER. You do not sell your best players to teams in your league for ANY amount of money. Sorry, thats absolutely idiotic. You sell him to Spain or Italy or Belgium or wherever, for the best price you can get. Its better to sell him to Madrid for 12Mill than to Chelsea for 15Mill.
1. Holy crap what happened to the board..??? 2. I don't support selling Cole, (right now), even if it is for 16 million. I think he is nearing the peak of his play, and depending on health, could remain very very successful for the next 3/4/5 years (he's only 25! 25!). I think this is frankly ridiculous. People seem to forget, and think Flamini can do the job...well consider that Flamini is only 2-3 years younger than Cole, adn will likely never be as good. Also, who knows if Flamini (or Clichy for that matter) can go for a whole season? It would be absurd to sell Cole now. And that's why we won't do it- it's illogical. Also, I wouldn't be surprised that if we got rid of Cole, --> Henry leaves too. He needs friends, too!
He's done. Though I would like The Arsenal to keep a Londoner or two Ash is no longer relevant to the success of the team. It is a new day and both his prescence and Sol's hold us in the past. His lack of a history with the new team will make his integration a difficult task. We are reborn, time to let go lads. We have a bright future and I see a champions league trophy in the case at the Grove. Rob
Yes 16 million to a spanish team would be good although I don't want us to sell him at all. As for selling him to chelsea if we do which would be stupid because it would be making them better and us worse so we need to get at least 30 million from then. No1ArsenalFan aka Rich Smith
A question...would you sell to Chelsea for 16 or say Madrid for...12? We could avoid having to play arguably the best LB in the world, but would also lose the money to sign basically another Manny Adebayor caliber player.
I wouldnt sell him to those greedy cvnts for 100 million. Chelsea can go and die in bankruptcy. If he wants to leave, Ash can go suffer wherever we sell him.
No way you are even considering 16 million pounds, it's a joke to sell him that kind of money to our rivals? The best left back in the world by far and could be our future captain, why the hell will you sell him.
Does anyone seem to understand that he is only a LB. You don't win or lose a championship based on your LB. Arsenal have much greater needs that could be easily filled with 16 million. If you want to argue how important a LB is remember Chelsea are about to win back to back championships with out a true LB. They are at their best with Gallas at LB. And lets not forget about how important a LB is to Barca, arguably the best team in the world right now. LB is nothing more than a luxury and when you can trade your luxury item for 16 million to plug bigger holes and also have a prospect of Clichy's caliber you do it.
Money + gallas or no way in hell we will sell to chelsea. None of us want to sell cole, and I'd prefer keeping him and making him captain, but after the whole tapping up saga, you get the idea that he is prepared to move somewhere else. I get the feeling he will leave is henry leaves, stay if henry stays.
I thought he said there was no way he was ever going to go to Chelsea because of how badly they treated him but he also said there was no way he was going to sign a new contract at Arsenal but then he did. Yes he is a good player but i think he is money hungry as well. That's the problem with a lot of these younger players they are all money hungry. No1ArsenalFan aka Rich Smith
I suspect it's just another rumour. But I honestly don't think he'll go to another team in England, and certainly not in the summer. He's young, and this Arsenal side are going places. He'd be stupid to go to Real Madrid, or any team in Italy...
Selling Cole isn't a bad idea if someone is willing to fork up 16 mil for him, unless that someone was Chelsea. There is no way I would want us to sell him to a team that is in OUR way in the league. Chelsea have vast resources to get someone who can do the job. Why should we help them?
I hate to say this, but you people here really need to be reminded of what Cole offered us in the past. True, Flamini has done the job in his absence, but fact is Flamini is a emergency measure and he has been exposed a few times already when Robinho and Camoranesi was attacking him. Reyes and Toure did their job to cover up for him, but you can't expect this to last forever. True, we have a good talent in Clichy, but he is not yet in Cole's level. If you think we are doing good now, I'll tell you now that we'll do even better if we had Cole. His runs on the left flank are something we have been missing for a long time already. 16 million to plug bigger holes? At the present moment beyond a defensive midfielder there are no holes we need to plug and you all can stop dreaming about getting M Diarra. Selling one of our best player to our worse rival just because we think we can replace him is not the way to win the title. Cole's best years are still ahead of him and even though I agree that he is gulity of not having loyalty I think he deserves his chance to prove himself.
Are you serious forget about Diarra. With 16 million from Cole we could easily get Diarra. Essien went for 25 million I believe to Chelsea. Arsenal could easily come up with another 9 million plus the 16 million to get Diarra. Not that would necessarily happen, but it is very possible to get Diarra if Cole is sold for 16 million.
Diarra is a better player than Essien, Lyon knows that and that's why they are willing to off-load Essien. Lyon is a very rich club and if they wanted to keep a player nothing the player does can get him sold. If Diarra does go Lyon would be in trouble because it would be like Henry leaving us. That's why Lyon is not going to like selling him and if he does go I don't expect him to go for anything less than Essien. Plus Diarra has struck me to be someone like Essien who wants to play in Chelsea/Man U and doesn't seem to be a typical Wenger signing.